Coffee Shop Nocturne
by E.M Travers
Summary: Kyoya is a well-off business intern looking forward to making his way up the corporate ladder. But what happens when he crosses paths with Tamaki, the all-too observant barista from the new downtown coffee shop?


"French vanilla chai latte for Ito, mocha with biscotti for Nakano, unsweetened raspberry tea for...Tsukada- Yukimura, your peppermint cappucino is coming right up!"

Kyoya watched as the barista rattled off the orders, a hint of a French accent peppering the staccato syllables. News of a European family opening a coffee shop in downtown Tokyo had drawn a crowd; speculators and customers were flooding in to see what all the fuss had been about. The woman who ran the shop was beautiful. Her son, equally so.

"Yukimura, peppermint cappucino! Tanaka and Yamada, your iced coffees are ready."

The dark haired male continued watching on between glimpses at his spreadsheets. How the blond could handle so many demanding customers was beyond him. He looked about the same age; eighteen or nineteen, he guessed. But Kyoya was still no barista at some downtown coffee shop. He was a well-paid intern to a powerful business, one he hoped to climb the corporal ladders of. Kyoya Ootori was no smiley college kid. He was a businessman in his own eyes and his own right.

"Let me get you a fresh cup, M'am." The blond bowed his head as he flitted around to fetch some older woman another cup of coffee. "Wha- Oh, no. No need to worry about the price. I've got it. Have a nice day."

"You're a wonderful young man, Tamaki. Your mother must be very proud."

"Thank you very much."

Kyoya skimmed his paperwork with his foot tapping gently to the tune of the French music drifting through the shop. The longer he skimmed around the more he forgot his half-empty cup of black coffee, so it wasn't long before the cup went completely cold without notice. He just continued to read over and correct numbers, unaware of the time rinsing by.

"Excuse me?" Kyoya looked up at the familiar voice and pushed up his glasses.

"Yes?"

"I thought you could use another cup." Kyoya opened his mouth to protest. He didn't need to spend any more of his paycheck. "Ah, no charge...you've been really into your work for a while, huh?"

"I suppose so." Kyoya nodded as Tamaki set the fresh cup down and took away the old one. In a moment he was back, just as his mother emerged from the back room to take over the evening shift.

"Ah, do you mind?" He gestured to the chair across from him. The intern arched an eyebrow but shook his head, wondering if all foreigners were quite this outgoing.

"Not at all."

He sipped his coffee while the barista sat down, making a face as a sweet taste slipped through his mouth. Tamaki's brow furrowed in confusion and what seemed like alarm.

"Sorry. I took a little creative liberty. You take your coffee really bitter, don't you?"

"I don't know if bitter is really the word for it."

"I thought I'd add some vanilla roast to liven it up."

"Thank you, but isn't your job to get all the customers' orders correct? And I don't care much for sweet things." Kyoya said with a gentle smile. The idiot.

"I...right. My apologies. But everyone needs sweets now and then, don't they?" The tall man cocked his head to the side. Kyoya twirled a coffee stirrer slowly between his fingers as he thought.

"If you'd like to put it that way. Why buy me coffee, by the way?" He asked. Tamaki shrugged and crossed one long leg over the other, looking like some sort of superficial model as he did so.

"I just thought you could use a cup."

"Yes, well, you're going to run your mother bankrupt if you keep giving away coffee like that." Kyoya warned. Tamaki's eyes widened and he shook his head, looking over his shoulder to smile at his mother. They both had the same purple-blue eyes and the same smile, not to mention the same shade of blond hair.

"My mother and I have our own rule about that. We can give away three cups of coffee per day. To the people who we feel need it most." Tamaki explained. Kyoya didn't quite get why there was such a profound rule for something as simple as coffee.

"Who was that old woman, then?"

"Her children have decided that they can't pay for her housing anymore, so she's living in a tiny house on the other side of town. I've helped her with housework plenty of times." Tamaki said it like it was no big deal to go that out of your way for someone.

"And do you actually know her?"

"Not really. She only started coming here recently."

"So why did you go through all that trouble to help her?"

"Because she doesn't really seem like she has anyone." It was astounding how pure of heart this man was seeming. Everything he did seemed like an effort to help someone. And that was odd. especially to someone as business-minded as Kyoya.

"And the second person?"

"Some homeless man we found sleeping on the curb outside the shop."

"And...me?" Kyoya asked, a tad offended that he'd been placed on the same rank as a senior citizen and a beggar.

"You're a lonely person trying to fit into the giant role of a businessman, but you can't. You're around my age, but you look really unhappy and really stressed and unsatisfied with where you are. I thought you could use something sweet. Because right now, your life isn't." Kyoya dropped the coffee stirrer, utterly gaping at the utter gall and judgement of the blond.

"I..." He stopped short as the PDA between them buzzed wildly. Something about checking updates and stocks.

"You have more work to do, then? I won't keep you from it. See you." He watched Tamaki get up and disappear behind the counter and into the backroom, still a little dazed by his sudden analysis. All of the stuff he'd said wasn't true. It just wasn't. Of course he was happy and satisfied with where he was.

_Of course..._

Kyoya sighed, took one more glance towards the back room and his too-sweet coffee, and picked up his PDA.


End file.
